Watershed was founded by Greg Lehman and Dave Rigo in 2010, but the idea to start a distillery was conceived years earlier while Lehman was playing professional volleyball in Switzerland. Inspired by the locally produced spirits that were common in the area, Greg thought about the possibility of creating spirits in his Ohio hometown. He shared his idea with Dave and they began working on making it a reality.

Before prohibition, Ohio was home to dozens of distilleries producing unique flavors specific to the region. However, since prohibition Ohio had become one of the most difficult states to start a distillery.

In 2007, Greg and Dave began working on what would become the newest addition to the very long history of micro-distilling in Ohio – Watershed Distillery, known for its handcrafted, artisan-quality vodka, gins, and bourbon.